Genesis of the Academic Track Programme and Stakeholder Engagement

generation of clinical academics is maintained and enhanced, so that the future of clinical research in Ireland can be secured.

Genesis of the Academic Track Programme and Stakeholder Engagement. Prior to submitting a proposal for the creation of an academic track for internship in Ireland, extensive stakeholder consultations were held with the six intern networks, the NDTP, the Medical Council, the Irish Medical Schools Council (IMSC) and through an anonymous questionnaire with over 200 students from the penultimate year pre-graduation. Results confirmed the full support of the INE, the IMSC, RCPI and the Medical Council for the creation of AIT and we are grateful to these groups and external advisors in the UK for providing input into programme design. In addition, coordinators confirmed availability of a pool of willing and research active supervisors within the networks. Among students the results showed 50% intended to apply for the AIT (response rate 24.6 %) when available and most planned to apply for the UKAFP if it was not. Of these 62% were female, the majority had no previous third level qualification. The most popular stream within the AIT was Clinical Research, (20/41) followed by Medical Education (17/41) and lastly healthcare Leadership and Management (4/41). This is not surprising since the latter is under-represented as a discipline within undergraduate curricula. The most frequently cited reason for wanting to participate in the academic track was “To progress my career in a particular specialty” (28/42). This was followed by “I wish to pursue a career in academic medicine, medical education or healthcare leadership and management”, (27/42) and “I am interested in clinical research and would like to participate in a research project” (26/42). Students responded that the most important aspect of the academic track should be protected time for research, with all respondents rating this as important or very important. This was closely followed by the presence of an academic supervisor, which was rated important/very important by 95% of respondents (Fig 1).

Fig 1: Student perceptions of the importance of aspects of the academic track

The most common concern about participating in the academic track, cited by 58%, was uncertainty about their ability to achieve all of the clinical competencies in addition to research (Burke et al., 2018). This early concern was unfounded, since its inception, no academic intern has failed to reach the clinical competencies required of him or her and indeed many have been commended for their excellence in this domain. From this data, it was clear that the introduction of the AIT was welcomed both by students and by their trainers. Subsequently, detailed proposals were submitted to the IMC and NDTP and funding granted for the creation of twenty-four academic track internship posts to begin in 2017. The governance structure of the AIT is shown, all important decisions are made by consensus at INE level, and the academic track remains a standing item for all INE discussions. Representation at higher levels of intern governance such as at the Medical Intern Unit is currently lacking.

Fig 2: Overview of the governance of the Academic Track

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